The French Revolution "Conservative" Phase: 1795-1799

1. The French Revolution "Conservative" Phase: 1795-1799

2. The “Thermidorian Reaction” • Curtailed the power of the Committee for Public Safety. • Closed the Jacobin Clubs. • Churches were reopened. • 1795  freedom of worship for all cults was granted. • Economic restrictions were lifted in favor of laissez-faire policies. • August, 1795  a new Constitution is written • more conservative republicanism.

3. Characteristics of the Directory • The Paris Commune was outlawed. • The Law of 22 Prairial was revoked. • People involved in the original Terror were now attacked “White” Terror • Inflation continues. • Rule by rich bourgeois liberals. • Self-indulgence  frivolous culture;salons return; wild fashions. • Political corruption. • Revival of Catholicism.

4. The Government Structure of the New Directory • 5-man executive committee or oligarchy [to avoid a dictatorship]. • Tried to avoid the dangers of a one-house legislature. • Council of 500 initiates legislation. • Council of Elders [250 members]  married or widowed males over 40 years of age. • They accepted or rejected the legislation. • Both houses elected by electors who owned or rented property worth 100-200 days’ labor [limited to 30,000 voters]. • The electors were elected by all males over 21 who were taxpayers.

5. Political Instability: 1795-1796 • April, 1795  Inflation; bread riots. • October, 1795 : • Royalists revolted. • Military suppressed them. • May, 1796  First “communist” revolt • Gracchus Babeufand the Conspiracy of Equals”

6. 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799) • Coup d’état by Napoleon. • Approved by a plebiscite in December. • Abbe Sieyès: Confidence from below; authority from above.

7. Read More About the Revolution